Alabama

Bad decisions turn Tide into Team Turmoil

Anthony Grant, pictured here after Alabama's loss Saturday to LSU, faces some major decisions in the final month.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Selfish. Entitled. Irresponsible.

Pick a word to describe four Alabama basketball players whose behavior turned what should be an NCAA Tournament team into Team Turmoil.

Anthony Grant sounded public warning shots for weeks. Whatever happens now is largely on Tony Mitchell, JaMychal Green, Trevor Releford and Andrew Steele after their suspensions in the past week.

It's not publicly known what these players did or didn't do to warrant indefinite suspensions. In a sense, what happened really doesn't matter.

Jon Solomon is a columnist for The Birmingham News. Join him for live web chats on college sports on Wednesdays at 2 p.m.

They disappeared when their team needed them. First Mitchell. Then Green, Releford and Steele.

Four veterans who should be the heart of this team left Alabama-LSU on Saturday resembling a scene out of "Hoosiers." Gene Hackman to the ref when he puts four players on the floor: "My team's on the court."

For how much longer? That's also an unknown for Alabama, which lacks Jimmy Chitwood -- or any reliable shooter, for that matter -- to save the day.

Once ranked 12th in the country, the Crimson Tide faces great uncertainty. Alabama's first NCAA Tournament trip since 2006 isn't out of reach, but Grant will encounter some major decisions in the final month.

Which suspended players return, if any, and when? Does Alabama possess enough depth and scoring to survive without them for an extended period?

Assuming they do return, how do minutes get determined and roles defined? How much trust and chemistry will there be between teammates? How will the public react to the suspended four in a season now hijacked by their decisions?

Six games remain before the SEC Tournament, with four at home starting Tuesday against desperate Florida in Tuscaloosa. The late home stretch once looked like a positive. Will it be if the crowd turns on the suspended players should they return?

Grant said Mitchell's suspension was unrelated to the discipline of Green, Releford and Steele, who got sent home from Baton Rouge before Saturday's loss to LSU. Grant said he received information Friday about something that happened before the trip.

"I'm very disappointed in terms of some of the choices that we as individuals made," Grant said after the game. "We're dealing with young men here. I was a college student, and not every choice I made as a college student was always the right choice. But the thing that is most disappointing is how their choices affected so many other people: their teammates, their loved ones and all the people out there who love the University of Alabama."

Grant noticeably didn't exclude himself from some responsibility. Nor should he.

Three of the four suspended players were recruited by Mark Gottfried. But this is Grant's third year, a point where a coach gets held more accountable for players to abide by his disciplinary measures.

Green, who is the Crimson Tide's leading scorer and rebounder, has been suspended three times by Grant. If Green hopes to surpass Stephen Garcia's five-suspension survival rate, Green would be wise to understand some records aren't made to be broken.

The biggest disappointment for Alabama is who's getting suspended. It's one thing if they were freshmen who are just learning about college life and meshing with older teammates. It's quite another when the front and back of Alabama's media guide is now littered with suspended players.

Green, Mitchell and Releford became the faces of Alabama basketball. Steele is considered a coach on the court with a feel-good story after returning from multiple concussions.

But decisions matter and theirs hurt the team. Against LSU, Alabama reverted to a starting lineup of four freshmen and a seldom-used junior point guard. Rodney Cooper scored 28 points, a team-high for an Alabama player this season. Nick Jacobs added 14 points.

If the suspended players are reinstated, how do Cooper and Jacobs not have larger roles moving forward? And if that happens, how do the reinstated players react?

Alabama's season isn't lost. But it's squarely on the brink.

Bad decisions put the Tide in this hole. Only a lot of good decisions will dig them out.